This invention relates generally to vehicle wheel service systems and more particularly, to methods and systems for operation of vehicle wheel service systems such as wheel balancers and tire changers configured to measure a profile of a wheel.
At least some known automotive wheel balancers include a capability of optically scanning a vehicle wheel such as a motor vehicle wheel. A location on the wheel is sensed by means of a light beam emitted by a light source, and the light beam is reflected to a position-sensitive receiver. The spacing of the sensed location relative to a reference location is then measured from the directions of the emitted and reflected beams. The known scanning device includes a shaft on which a vehicle wheel to be measured is rotatable about the axis thereof, with a light source for directing a light beam on to the location on the wheel and a position-sensitive receiver for receiving the reflected beam. An actuator causes synchronous pivotal movement of the light source and the receiver about a common pivot axis, and the measurement values of the receiver are fed to an electronic evaluation system to ascertain the sensed location on the vehicle wheel from a reference location. The light source can be in the form of a laser beam source.
The light source and the receiver of the known scanning device are positioned on a common carrier which is rotated to various positions such that the light source and the receiver move about the axis of rotation synchronously. By positioning the light source and the receiver together facing towards various positions on the wheel rim a contour of the wheel and in particular the internal contour of the wheel rim can be determined.
However, a scanning device that includes a plurality of moving parts, actuators, and bearings is prone to wear and misalignment requiring periodic maintenance, recalibration, and/or verification of proper operation, which is expensive and time-consuming. The time required for the scanned measurement can also be long, even longer than the imbalance measurement itself, and longer than manually entering the dimensions using conventional electromechanical systems.